The Law Centre at
Presentation Goals 1. To describe the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, Law Centre Clinical Law Program 2. To describe how the Law Centre worked with the Legal Services Society (Legal Aid) to provide legal assistance to poor people in Victoria
What is The Law Centre? • A Clinical Legal Education Program • Offered three times a year: Fall, Spring and Summer • 14 students per term, 42 per year • One Social Work student per term • A provider of legal services for the poor • Operating since 1977
Term • One month orientation • Three months working with clients
Orientation • Conducted at Law School • Introduces students to the skills and substantive law needed to work on client files
Skills • Interviewing • Counselling • Negotiation • Mediation • Fact investigation • Drafting pleadings, correspondence, wills and representation agreements • All aspects of conducting a trial in Provincial Court • Supreme Court Chambers
Technique • Observe example of skill • Role play • Critique
Substantive Law • Criminal procedure • Family law • Welfare law • Human Rights law • Landlord and Tenant law • CPP, ICBC, Bankruptcy law • Civil Procedure (Small Claims)
Nature of w ork
Clients • 1600+ annually • Approximately 35 to 40 open files per student
Staff • 2.5 qualified lawyers with a combined 80 years of practice • Clinical Director • Assistant Clinical Director • Clinical Instructor • Social Worker • Administrative Assistant
Holistic Focus Our goal is to address the clients legal problems And The underlying issues which caused the legal problems Using a multidisciplinary team approach
Office • Located in the Victoria Courthouse • Reception area • Seven interview rooms • Four professional staff offices • Student area with 17 work stations
Statistics •1500 + students have participated in the Program •More than 80,000 people have received advice and representation from Law Centre students since the beginning of the program in 1977 •5 out of 12 judges who preside in Provincial Court in Victoria participated in the program •2 of the 3 Supreme Court Masters participated in the program •A very large percentage of the current prosecutors and defence counsel practising in Victoria have benefited from the Law Centre experience
Budget • $590,000 per year Funding Sources • The Law Foundation • Ministry of Justice • The University of Victoria
Historical Overview 1977 – 2014
1977 510 FORT STREET
1977 510 FORT ST. • Students read files and immediately start work • No structured education • Students seek advice as needed
1978 • Law Centre combines with Clinical Program, Legal Aid and Community Action Legal Assistance • Three agencies report to three authorities
1980 A& B SOUND BUILDING
1980 • The Law Centre Association of Victoria Major input from community More non-lawyers than lawyers on the board Protection of stakeholders’ interests: faculty, legal aid, staff • Orientation now consists of one week dealing with basic skills • File reviews and quality control checklists introduced • A new office
1980 • 5 Lawyers (3 working for LSS, 2 working for the UVIc Faculty of Law • 7 support staff (including legal aid referral staff, paralegals, lawyer secretaries, and social workers • 14 law students and 1 social work student per term • Students do most intake interviews (5500)and assist with legal aid administration • LSS staff assist in supervising students in the conduct of student files • Students assist lawyers and paralegals with their files
1992 • Beginning of the GLENN Index (The Glenndex) • Trial preparation in our own “ courtroom ” • Orientation expanded to 4 weeks
Glenndex
1995 - 2002 THE LAW CENTRE OCCUPIES CIBC BUILDING 4 TH FLOOR
1995 - 2002 • LSS moves to “professional managers” • Centralization and standardization the goal • All decisions made at Vancouver head office
2002 - • BACK TO BROAD STREET
2002 - • LSS dismantled through government budget cuts and legislative changes • LSS refuses to continue partnership with the Clinical Program • The Law Centre Clinical Program begins to function independently as a service of the UVic Faculty of Law
August 2013 - • Co-locating in the Courthouse with the Victoria Justice Access Centre
New Office Floor Plan
Community agency comments • Community Partners referred to the important role played by the Law Centre in sensitizing new lawyers to a broader ranges of social and economic issues that condition how law is practiced, how justice is accessed and how clients fare within the legal program (reported in July 2005 Family Law Demonstration Project Key Results Report)
Community agency comments • In the family law area, women, children and the poor became increasingly vulnerable in the wake of legal aid service cuts. Community Partners referred to how the Law Centre is filling a gap left by the retreat of the formal Legal Aid from the family law area. (reported in July 2005 Family Law Demonstration Project Key Results Report)
Misty
The Law Centre Motto “Be Courageous”
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